[Ads-l] "Lagniappe" (slight antedating, 1846)

[Wilson Gray]

> Matamoras [sic]

A common, American spelling. Matamoras, PA, is down the road a piece - same
area code - from where I live.

On Fri, Apr 2, 2021 at 4:55 PM Bonnie Taylor-Blake <b.taylorblake at gmail.com>
wrote:

> I've lately been attracted to odd American words and phrases that appeared
> before the Civil War. As many of you know, however, it's sometimes
> difficult to search for these things, given the diversity of spellings.
>
> With that caveat, I've gathered some early appearances of "lagniappe,"
> below. (The OED's earliest example is from 1849.) I suspect some of you
> will do better. The OED shares the variants "lagnappe," "lanyap,"
> "lanyappe," and "lanyope," but creative speller-searchers here may find
> still earlier and unanticipated forms.
>
> (Note that I've also tacked on, as lagniappe, an 1842 usage in a
> French-language newspaper published in New York City. I think I should get
> a little credit for it, though, since -- of "la gniappe" -- the writer
> specifies "comme disent les Louisianais.")
>
> -- Bonnie
>
> -----------------------------------
>
> (Asterisks below indicate italicized text.)
>
> The same music and noise is now heard in the camp of the 7th Infantry below
> us -- ta-ta-ta-ra-ra-ra-ta-ta-r-r goes the shrill noise of the trumpet
> among the Dragoons -- bum-bum-bum is bellowed out by old "Rough and Ready"
> at the fort, which is answered by the little 6s in each regiment, followed
> with three times three, and three for *la gniappe*, from 10,000 mouths,
> which reverberates and echoes along the banks of the Rio Grande. (From
> "Fourth July at Matamoras [sic]," The Missippippi Democrat [Carrollton], 29
> July 1846, p. 1. This is prefaced with "Correspondence of the N.O. Delta."
> No idea what "little 6s" are -- horns, guns?)
>
> When Mr. Hunt concluded, the meeting, on motion, adjourned, giving three
> loud cheers and one by way of *lagniappe* for the cause. (From "WHIG
> MEETING; Nomination of Delegates to the Whig National Convention," The
> Northern Standard [Clarksville, Texas], 22 April 1848, p. 2. A note at the
> top of the article reports, "From the Delta." Presumably "the Delta" is New
> Orleans's Daily Delta or Weekly Delta.)
>
> When a democratic General Council (if *ever* we have another of that
> political character) in appointing commissioners, shall select sixty out of
> the sixty-three against which the whigs can find no reasonable objection,
> we will consent without grumbling to allow them to retain the odd three,
> however obnoxious they may be, and throw them in as *lagniappe*. (From "The
> Late Election," Daily Crescent [New Orleans], 12 November 1849, p. 2.)
>
> Thomas Elworth a complété et gagné hier le pari accepté par lui de faire
> 1,000 milles en mille heures consécutives, à Cambridge près de Boston. Il
> avait gangé à 4 heures du matin et a fait encore un mille par heure jusqu'à
> 5 heures du soir; c'était pour *la gniappe*, comme disent les Louisianais.
> (From "Un Rude Marcheur," in "Fait Divers," Courrier des Etats-Units [New
> York City], 8 October 1842, p. 2.)
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>


-- 
- Wilson
-----
All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"---a strange complaint to
come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
-Mark Twain

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org